Shared electric city bikes
About this good practice
Shared electric city bikes (Bysykkelen) are available for rent in various city areas i Rogaland. If you have a valid public transport ticket in our ticket app, you can pick up a city bike from a charging station and use it for no extra cost for an hour. After the first hour you can continue to rent the bike for a low cost. Several companies have an agreement with "Bysykkelen" so their employees can use the shared electric city bike for free. The bikes must be returned to a charging station after use.
Resources needed
The bikes were bought with investment funds, but management/operation costs were paid by ticket revenues (breakeven).
The recent expansion of the bike sharing system has required an increase in workshop capacity, spare parts and resources to relocate bikes. It’s difficult to estimate costs.
Evidence of success
The 1st gen. of electric city bikes had 1-2 rides per bike per day (the best month). From Feb. 2020 new and improved 2nd gen. electric city bikes were introduced. The number of docking stations and bikes were increased. The bike ticketing system was integrated to the Kolumbus app (for public transport). Public transport users can now use the city bikes for one hour when they buy a public transport ticket. Now the electric city bikes have 8-10 rides per bike per day. Each trip is approx. 3 km.
Potential for learning or transfer
Ease of implementation: Somewhat easy
Impact: High
Benefit-cost ratio: High
https://www.interregeurope.eu/e-mopoli/library/
For Kolumbus, the implementation of new electric city bikes has not been easy, as this has been a pioneer project and Kolumbus has been developing an electric city bike system. The bikes have been custom built for our conditions. Finding good spots for new docking stations is one difficult aspect as it requires a lot of coordination and cooperation between several parties (municipalities, companies etc.).
Other regions that plan to implement an electric bike sharing system would benefit highly from learning from others that already have developed an electric bike sharing system. Cooperation across regions and business sectors are the key to success.
Further information
Website
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.
Kolumbus AS